[5/20/04]Three companies made offers Wednesday to provide new equipment for the only public ferry in Warren County and one of few left in the state.

Supervisors have been trying since 2002 to get a firm offer to replace the boat and barge that moves vehicles back and forth across the Yazoo Diversion Canal to Kings Point.

The newest bids allowed separate offers for the components and yielded the highest prices yet.

They were:

Big River Shipbuilders, Vicksburg: $360,500 for the boat and $301,500 for the barge, or both for $662,000.

Tensas Machine and Manufacturing, Newellton: $312,500 for the boat and $281,000 for the barge, or both for $593,500.

Lynn’s Welding Shop, Vicksburg: $447,050 for the boat only.

Kings Point is privately owned farming, timber, hunting and fishing land west of downtown Vicksburg. The ferry has operated for 100 years, since the Yazoo River was rerouted to bring water back to City Front after the Mississippi changed course.

Big River and Tensas had participated in previous bidding on the project.

The first attempt was canceled when the advertisement drew a flood of questions from potential bidders about specifications. The next time, no bids were offered.

The third time the project was advertised, supervisors had to reject both bids because neither followed all the applicable rules and laws. The fourth time bids were opened, in February of this year, the county ended up canceling the contract it had awarded when the successful low bidder, Big River Shipbuilders of Vicksburg, said the price of steel went up by $20,000 between the time the bid was calculated and the time the contract was awarded.

When the board advertised for the bids opened Wednesday, members decided to allow companies to bid on the boat or the barge, to bid on both individually or to submit a composite bid in hopes of a lower package price.

That didn’t happen. Big River’s bid is up $132,000 from its previous offer to replace the 35-foot push boat and 65-foot barge. The offer from apparent low bidder, Tensas, is $63,500 more than Big River’s bid earlier this year.

Supervisors took the bids under advisement until County Engineer John McKee and State Aid District Engineer Murray Stewart can evaluate them. They will report back at a meeting at 10 a.m. Monday.

The county has $233,994 budgeted for the ferry’s operation this year. Over a year’s time, the ferry averages about 28 trips per day although, during busy times, such as hunting season and planting and harvest times, the average can peak at nearly 100 trips a day.

Safety is cited as a need for replacing the boat and barge, and state funds are expected to cover most of the cost.

In other business Wednesday, supervisors agreed to the second change order on the exterior restoration project on the Old Court House Museum-Eva W. Davis Memorial.

The change order calls for cleaning, painting and waterproofing the capitals of the columns on the building for $11,427 and cleaning and waterproofing the exterior walls for $130,722. It will also add 44 days to the contract resulting in a projected completion date of Sept. 3.